


Through His Eyes

by Enigmatic_Stardust



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Flowers, Zine, fluff and happy times, good adventure boys
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-30
Updated: 2019-12-30
Packaged: 2021-02-27 13:40:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,007
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22037938
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Enigmatic_Stardust/pseuds/Enigmatic_Stardust
Summary: The world through Prompto's eyes...
Comments: 1
Kudos: 16
Collections: Full Bloom Zine (Final Fantasy XV)





	Through His Eyes

**Author's Note:**

> This piece was part of the Full Bloom Zine. Make sure you read the other works in the zine!

Prompto couldn’t get over how big the sky was outside of the Crown City. He’d heard of light pollution, but hadn’t given it much thought until he stood outside of the Wall and stared up at the vast, blooming canvas of the midnight sky. He tilted his camera up, wishing his lens could accurately capture the stars wheeling slowly overhead. No matter how hard he tried, the camera never quite picked up the blossoming of the cosmos. 

Prompto let his camera fall back onto his lap and stared out at the arid landscape of Leide. He was on first watch tonight. Prompto always took watch along with Gladiolus. Noctis needed sleep, and Ignis was tired from driving all day, which left Prompto and Gladio on watch duty. Prompto didn’t mind. With his contacts in, he probably had the best vision of the group (other than Iggy). He had a knack for spotting things that others missed even at night. It was one of the things that made him feel useful to the guys. 

Prompto flipped through the images on his memory card, smiling wistfully at the bright photographs. Even after everything that had happened, his friends still smiled back at him when he waved, begging to stop and take a photo.

Something rustled behind him. He waited, relaxing once the noise became the familiar, careful work of Gladio trying to silently untangle himself from his sleeping bag.

Prompto glanced behind him. “What’s up?”

Gladio grumbled and sat down next to him, having extricated himself from the fabric. “How’re you able to keep watch with that thing ruining your night vision?” Gladio asked, pointing to the camera. 

“It doesn’t bother me,” he shrugged, “and it helps keep me awake.”

Gladio hummed a note of agreement. “Mind if I take a look?”

“Sure! Give me a second to scroll back to the most recent ones.”

“Hang on, when was this one taken?”

It was a photo of Noct surrounded by flowers. Someone had weaved a crown of daffodils and slapped it onto his head. He had a surprisingly serene look on his face, his eyebrows relaxed as he gazed out at the viewfinder calmly. There was the barest hint of a smile on his lips.

Gladio snatched the camera, grinning, “How did you manage to get him to wear that?”

“Well…”

* * *

Noctis had  _ that  _ look, the one that spelled trouble. He kept his arms crossed, only uncrossing them to occasionally yawn or send out a text. Prompto slung his arm across Noct’s shoulders, grinning and leading him down the carefully manicured path.

“Come on, dude. Just be glad we’re out of school!”

“On a field trip to the royal garden.” He grimaced.  _ “Hooray.” _

“If you’d skipped, then I would’ve been bored!” Prompto let go of Noct and knelt down. “You’re here all of the time, so tell me, what are these?”

“Daffodils. Come on, even you know that.”

He’d seen them before around parks and in the medians of major roads. Those flowers paled in comparison to the ones in the royal garden. These were bright yellow and orange, almost too saturated to look natural. Prompto watched a few girls from their class pick some other flowers─lavender ones─and a mischievous smirk started to form on his face. He carefully snapped the stems of a dozen daffodils, turned away from Noct, and started to twist and weave them together.

“What are you doing?”

“Just wait… and… perfect.” Prompto turned and held the flowers behind his back. “Close your eyes.”

“You’re joking.”

“Pleeeease?”

Noct sighed, but shut his eyes nevertheless. Prompto took out the golden crown and settled it onto Noct’s hair, careful not to disturb the carefully styled spikes. He then took out his camera and framed the shot, focusing it so that Noct would be the only thing fully in focus. He’d only get one chance...

“Ok, open your eyes.”

As soon as Noct opened his eyes, Prompto snapped the picture.

* * *

“Did he get rid of it after you took the picture?”

“He wore it for a whole ten minutes before he finally got annoyed.”

Gladio chuckled and continued to flip through the photos. “These are all pretty old. You keep them all on here?”

“I like looking back.”

“Wait, I remember this one!” Gladio paused on a photo of tarts dusted with burnt-orange petals. “Iggy spent days working on those.”

“He would’ve finished sooner if I hadn’t been helping.”

* * *

The kitchen was “off-limits” most days, but Ignis took pity on Prompto after he walked all the way to Noct’s apartment in the rain only to discover his friend was away for the evening preparing for a diplomatic meeting. Ignis offered him a towel and some spare clothes to wear while he dried Prompto’s soaked uniform.

“Really, it’s cool. I’ll just leave…” The apartment felt sterile and stark without Noct. “I’ve got homework anyway. I can pick up my uniform later and return these when I see Noct tomorrow─”

“Nonsense. The storm isn’t going to let up for a few hours and it would be remiss of me to allow you to walk home. I’ll drive you after I finish these.” Ignis went back into the kitchen and once again picked up a cluster of orange flowers. He meticulously picked off the petals, tossing them into a bowl beside his batter. 

“What did those flowers do to you? Are you feeling a little lovesick?”

Ignis arched an eyebrow, pausing his flower dismemberment. “I’m working on a special order for an engagement of Noct’s for tomorrow. Diplomats from Altissia will be here and I’m told this is a dish they’re rather fond of.”

“Flowers?”

“ _ Tarte au citron et fleur de souci. _ ” 

“And the flowers?”

“Are for color, flavor, and decoration.” Ignis resumed his rampage on the flowers. 

Prompto found himself unable to look away. The petals stained Ignis’ fingertips.

“Do you need a hand?”

“This is a rather delicate task. I don’t want the petals to be torn.” He looked at the mess of petals and sighed. “If you wish to help, though, I won’t stop you. I need to make four dozen of these tarts before tomorrow morning.”

“Have no fear, Prompto’s here!” He hopped off his chair and went into the kitchen area to join Ignis. “I didn’t know you could eat flowers.”

“Some flowers and only the petals. Don’t put any of the stems in.”

“Got it!”

* * *

“I think Ignis appreciated the help.” Gladio flicked through the photos again. “He doesn’t always say it, but he likes that you take an interest in cooking, even if it’s just dishwashing or prep work.”

Prompto’s eyebrows went up. “Really? I just thought I’d be helpful. He has to drive all day, then he cooks, too, so…”

Gladio suddenly burst out laughing. He had to quickly stifle himself, putting one massive hand over his mouth to keep himself from waking up Noctis and Ignis.

“Is this what I think it is?”

Prompto peered over at the camera. His cheeks burned. “Yeah...I wanted a reminder!”

“Some reminder! Oh, Astrals you almost killed me that day!” He continued to laugh and it took him a while to calm down.

* * *

Trudging through the desert of Leide was about the last thing Prompto wanted to do while wearing black at high noon. The sun beat down on his steadily reddening shoulders and, if it continued, he’d be nothing but a cascade of freckles on a background of sunburn. He wished he'd thought to bring a hat, but then, none of them planned to be out here [at  _ all] _ . Only Gladio seemed to have any form of preparation and even then it was only through his practical application of survival expertise. Even he was getting annoyed by the sun, though.

“Remind me again why his royal highness couldn’t do this?”

Prompto wasn’t sure if it was a rhetorical question so he answered anyway. “He ran out of juice and needs to rest?”

“And whose fault is that?”

“We just have to finish up this hunt and then we can be on our way,” Prompto said cheerfully. “Best part is, we might actually get to sleep in a real bed tonight, so just think about that.”

Gladio grumbled to himself. “I don’t care about the bed, but some AC would be nice.”

“Exactly! So chin up and let’s keep going!” Prompto hummed to himself, picking up his pace.

They jogged for over an hour before Gladio finally called for a halt. Prompto flopped down onto the dirt, panting. “Ugh, I’m all sticky and gross.”

“How hard is it to find this stupid beast?”

“Apparently… it’s good… at hiding.” 

Prompto sat up and took out a water bottle from his vest pocket. Empty. He groaned and stashed it again. They weren’t going to finish this hunt today, were they? He wasn’t sure he could stand another night stuck camping. 

“Come on, let’s go.” Gladio turned to head back, his shoulders tight with agitation. 

He didn’t want to go back to camp completely empty-handed, though. Prompto noticed a small crop of flowers around the base of a tree. They were wilting in the sun, but still relatively healthy. Some were violet while others were a medley of red, yellow, and white. He took a handful of the flowers and hurried after Gladio.

Back at the camp, Ignis sighed, looking through their supplies.

“Our food stores are rather low… don’t expect anything extravagant tonight.”

“Maybe I can help!” Prompto held out the flowers to Ignis. “These look like ones you cooked with back home.”

Ignis took them into his hand, squinting at them. “Ah, gladiolus.”

“Yes?” Gladio looked up before swearing and pointing at the flowers, “What are you doing with those?”

“I thought I’d add these to our food tonight. Gladiolus pairs nicely with salad─”

“Not those─ _ those _ . The purple ones.”

“What about them?”

“That’s monkshood.”

“Oh dear. Yes, it would be unfortunate to use these.”

Prompto tilted his head, confused. “What’s monkshood?”

“Ever heard of wolfsbane?”

Prompto laughed. “That stuff they use to keep werewolves away? That’s real?”

“Quite,” Ignis said, “and it’s toxic.”

He stopped laughing. “Oh.”

Ignis separated the gladiolus from the monkshood and then added the gladiolus to the salad. The petals almost looked like bits of confetti among the greenery. Gladio picked up the monkshood again, studying it thoughtfully. Prompto pulled out his camera and snapped a picture.

“What’s that for?” Gladio asked.

“Taking a picture so I can remember it! Don’t want to poison you guys!”

* * *

The night wore on. Gladio eventually sent Prompto to bed. He kept Prompto’s camera, commenting that he wanted to look through their memories. He didn’t usually like leaving his camera with people, but Prompto obliged with an awkward smile before crawling into the tent.

The group woke early and made it to Lestallum before midday. They settled down at one of the many cafés and splurged a little to buy a meal. They discussed their next hunt while they waited for their order. Prompto couldn’t help but stare at the flowers on the center of the table. He’d never seen them before in person, but he knew exactly what they were. Sunflowers. They were bigger than he’d expected.

His attention was drawn away by the Disc of Cauthess, just barely visible from where they were seated. He heard a familiar click and turned back to see Gladio holding his camera. He handed it back to Prompto with a smirk.

“I noticed something last night. You have selfies, but there aren’t a lot of candid shots of you.”

Prompto flipped to the last photo. He saw himself turned to the side, his expression the picture of wonder. Beside him were the sunflowers, framing the right edge of the photo.

“Not bad, Gladdy!”

“Hang on, I want to see!”

Noct reached over and snatched up the camera. Ignis and Gladio leaned in to look too. Prompto smiled, took out his phone, and took a picture of the three of them all smiling at his camera.


End file.
